2. 外语
  3. The rich have traditionally passed their wealth on to their children. But an increasing number of billionaires are choosing not

The rich have traditionally passed their wealth on to their children. But an increasing number of billionaires are choosing not

admin2012-07-11  80
问题     The rich have traditionally passed their wealth on to their children. But an increasing number of billionaires are choosing not to. The reason? They want their children to live on themselves — and not to turn into spoiled heirs and heiresses.
    Nicola Horlick — or "supermum" to the tabloids (小报), owing to the fact that she has high-flying jobs and five kids — has spent her career making a reported ￡250m; she now seems determined to throw off large parts of it. She already gives away about 25% of her income each year; she has just revealed, in a report on the state of charity in the city, that she will not be leaving most of the remainder to her children. "I think it is wrong to give too much inherited wealth to children," Horlick told the report’s authors. "I will not be leaving all my wealth to my children because that would just ruin their lives."
    She is by no means the first to go public with this conviction. Bill Gates has ploughed an estimated $30bn into the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This was supplemented, in 2009, by another $24bn or so from his friend Warren Buffett.
    Buffett has always been colorfully, quotably clear on where he stands. His daughter often tells a story of finding herself without change for a car parking ticket — her father lent her $20, then promptly made her write him a check. "To suggest that the children of the wealthy should be just as wealthy," he has said, "is like saying the members of America’s 2004 Olympics team should be made up only of the children of the 1980 Olympics team."
    Anita Roddick, the late founder of the Body Shop, told her kids that they would not inherit one penny. The money that she made from the company would go into the Body Shop Foundation, which isn’t one of those awful tax shelters, like some in America. It just functions to take the money and give it away.
    Sir Tom Hunter, the first Scottish billionaire, announced last July that he will be giving his billion to charity; two weeks ago Barron Hilton said he would be doing the same with 97% of his $2.3bn fortune — his granddaughter Paris’s embarrassing antics (滑稽行为) having convinced him that bequeathing (遗赠) unearned wealth is not something he wants to do.
The billionaires mentioned in the passage don’t want to leave much of their wealth to their children because______.
选项 A、they prefer to give their wealth to charity
B、they want their business to go on healthily
C、they believe too much wealth will harm their children
D、they hope their children can make more money themselves
答案C
解析 首段第二句提到越来越多的亿万富翁不把财产留给孩子，末句解释了原因：他们想让孩子独立生活，而不是变成被宠坏了的男女继承人，由此可推断出，他们认为过多的财富会对孩子产生不良影响，故答案为[C]。[A]是针对文中提到亿万富翁把钱捐给慈善机构设的干扰项；[B]在文中未提及；文中提到他们希望孩子靠自己生活，并未提及希望孩子赚更多的钱，故排除[D]。
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